This week marked BRAD BLOG's third anniversary and looked initially as if it might be a slow State of the Union rehash week, but quickly moved into red-hot territory as the Libby Perjury Trial got underway, serving up a daily courtroom dish chock full of juicy bits (and not a damn thing this famously secretive White House can do about it). Dems in da House are turning up the heat as well, cooking up a stew of investigations to right the imbalance of power between our Constitutionally-designated co-equal branches of government. Though Diebold, again, managed to outdo them all in the "incompetence" category.

There were also a few notable developments in the fight to protect the integrity of our elections --- oh, nothing major, just a few Ohio elections officials finally CONVICTED of rigging the 2004 Presidential recount --- nothing to see here, folks! Just move along...Or, take a look at just a few of the most notable stories we ran last week...

Meanwhile, as Bush prepares to serve up another 21,500 American troops to Iraq, it's worth taking a look at who the hell came up with the "augmentation" plan in the first place, what it said before the Bush spin machine grabbed hold of it, and what the plan's author has had to say since Bush revealed it to the country on January 10, 2007.

Frank Luntz is a LiarShame on Huffington Post for Giving Him a Platform to Do So...
Treacherous Republican wordsmith/pollster/spinman Frank Luntz sinks to new depths in pretending to offer "advice" for the Democratic Party in a condescending little screed posted at Huff Po on Sunday.

“They’re trying to set me up. They want me to be the sacrificial lamb,” Wells said, recalling the alleged conversation between Libby and Cheney. “I will not be sacrificed so Karl Rove can be protected.”

While the logistics of having Senator Webb give the Democratic Response in the Chamber tonight make it impossible at this late date, he will be addressing the American people directly from the Capitol and he will speak with authority for all Democrats in committing to a New Direction here and abroad. His strong voice will be heard.

According to an article in The Hill: “A new academic study of voting in Florida’s 13th district congressional race refutes the prevailing opinion of experts that the large undervote in the race in November was likely due to poor ballot design. The new study points to an error message that the experts say correlates with the undervotes, as well as to voting patterns that show unusually high undervote rates for Democratic voters. The study’s authors say more information, specifically the secret software used by the voting machines, is required to draw any real conclusions.”

These convictions occurred in Cuyahoga County, a Democratic stronghold of some 600,000 voters. Kerry "lost" the state of Ohio, according to the history books anyway, by just 118,000 out of some 5.5 million votes cast in the Buckeye State.

And the Hearings Begin...Conyers and Feingold Announce Judiciary Hearings on Bush Admistration Policy in Both Senate and House...

In the House, Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee --- the one which would lead the way concerning any Articles of Impeachment for a sitting U.S. President or Vice-President --- announced today that hearings would be held next Wednesday in the committee on "Presidential Signing Statements under the Bush Administration: A Threat to Checks and Balances and the Rule of Law?" (Complete media release, with details, scheduled witnesses, etc. at end of this article.)

In the Senate, Russ Feingold (D-WI) will chair Judiciary Committee hearings on "Congress's Power to End a War." In a media advisory just released, (posted in full below) Feingold refers to Congress's "power of the purse to redeploy our troops safely from Iraq so that we can refocus on the global terrorist networks that threaten our national security."

And as we enter Year 4 here, I suspect we'll enjoy many more breathtaking plunges, climbs and g-force brownouts on the unpredictable roller coaster that is The BRAD BLOG....Thanks to all BRAD BLOG readers and supporters for three years of unimaginable "success"! Couldn't be prouder to know you're here. Onward!

The BRAD BLOG has now obtained details from Feingold's office concerning what his proposal to exercise Congressional control of the purse strings over military deployment in Iraq will and won't do. A fact sheet concerning his upcoming legislation and how the defunding and re-deployment of U.S. troops would be conducted is included.

For all the good Al might do I cannot overlook his dereliction to the constitution, when blacks were disenfranchised en masse in the 2000 pResidential election.

In the words of the great Martin Luther King “a time comes when silence is betrayal”

He stood there gavel in hand, yet would not defend the people, the constitution, the bill of rights, or the very office for which he was running. Why would anyone think he could be trusted to any differently now?

If the man won't fight fore himself, and won't fight for those electing him, then he didn't/doesn't deserve to be President... even if he did win the first time.

The office of President is supposed to (amongst other things) be about LEADERSHIP. If the Supreme Court was acting corruptly it was his duty to do something about it. Not allow an imposter and his family to manipulate things.

Some folks in this country like to make fun of the French... call them "cheese eating surrender monkeys"... How would these folks characterize Gore’s inaction? IMO it bears all of the same earmarks.

Those who claim that Gore was acting patriotically... was protecting the country from what might have been (like civil war)… To those folks I say, "you now live in a dictatorship... you (and Gore) allowed the current pResidnet and his band of thugs to steal your democracy... you gave up liberty and freedom for comfort."

Gore may be a good man. He may have good ideas and good intentions, but since he's already demonstrated that he cannot or will not defend his constitution, bill of rights or his people, why would anyone consider electing him… Simpley because he’s “elect-able”… or because he’s not G.W.? That’s no reason.

Bring in someone new, who will actually represent the people and our constitution and bill of rights, and only someone who will... be they democrat, republican, libertarian, independent or other. Then, hold them accountable. We’re in this predicament because we’ve grown lazy… put the country on auto-pilot. Well, its time to take the controls back - we're heading for a crash.